ACEN to deploy $250-M equity in BrightNight partnership for renewable power in India

Ayala-led ACEN Corp. on Monday said it targets to deploy $250 million equity in a partnership with US-based renewable power company BrightNight to put up renewable power projects in India.

In a regulatory filing, ACEN said the partnership will include the development, construction, and operation of large-scale hybrid wind-solar and round-the-clock renewable power projects in India.

Under the partnership, ACEN’s subsidiaries ACEN Renewables International and ACEN International will support the buildout of BrightNight’s existing 1.2-gigawatt (GW) development pipeline in India.

The current pipeline includes a differentiated 100-megawatt co-located, wind solar project in the resource-rich state of Maharashtra, with the demand for energy in India expected to grow faster than any other nation over the next decade.

“With this partnership, we are significantly strengthening our foothold in India’s fast-growing market as we shift from pure solar play to multi-technology renewables,” ACEN International CEO Patrice Clausse said.

“We look forward to working with BrightNight’s highly experienced local team as our combined expertise will help India progress towards their energy transition goal and spur the global transition towards a Net Zero economy,” Clausse added.

ACEN, along with its parters, own a solar farm portfolio of 630MWdc of operating and under construction assets in India, while BrightNight is developing a global portfolio of 23 GW across the US and Asia Pacific, including India.

“ACEN is one of the largest and most respected renewables in Asia Pacific, and we are honored that they have chosen to work with us,” BrightNight CEO Martin Hermann said.

ACEN is the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group, with 4,000 megawatts (MW) of attributable facilities in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Australia.

The company targets to be the biggest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, with a goal of achieving 5,000 MW of renewables capacity by 2025.

Shares in ACEN were trading down by P0.10 or 1.62% at P6.09 as of 2:45 p.m. on Monday. —VAL, GMA Integrated News